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Senators lean toward three-year extension for cell-tower siting sunset, drop required studies
Summary
Facing competing priorities—rural public-safety and local land-use impact—the committee favored a three-year extension to the cell-tower siting statute (30 VSA §48a) and recommended removing repeated studies, while urging the PUC to improve complaint and customer-interaction procedures.
The Senate Finance Committee signaled support for a three-year extension of the statutory sunset governing the cell-tower siting process (30 VSA §48a) and for removing repetitive studies from the bill. Chair and members balanced concerns about rural cell coverage and emergency access against local land-use impacts and procedural fairness in siting decisions.
An agency presenter said the current process handles about 140 applications a year and warned that allowing the statute to lapse would shift significant workload to small towns and could expose select boards to federal provider suits if they do not act within statutory deadlines. The presenter argued the process has reduced burdens for towns and allowed meaningful local input, but acknowledged deadlines and participation challenges for smaller municipalities.
Members expressed mixed views. One member said the bulk of applications are small upgrades (antenna swaps) but warned that new tower siting is a land-use decision with substantial local impacts. Another member appealed to public-safety needs in areas with little or no cell service. After debate, the committee conducted a straw poll and the Chair recorded the direction concisely as ‘‘3 years, take out the studies.’’
Members asked the Public Utility Commission to review customer-interaction and complaint-handling practices and urged the agency to work on user-friendly processes before the sunset review returns to the committee. Staff were asked to draft amendment language reflecting the three-year extension and eliminated studies requirement for the committee’s next meeting.
